Praying Body and Soul

by Anthony de Mello

Book Overview

Never before published in English, this is a step-by-step exercise book integrating the Christian tradition of contemplation and the Eastern wisdom of meditation. Fr. de Mello's stories and spiritual... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0824516737
• ISBN13: 9780824516734
• Release Date: May 1997
• Publisher: Crossroad Publishing
• Length: 146 Pages
• Weight: 0.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.3" x 7.6"

Customer Reviews

Wonderful Book

The late Fr. Anthony de Mello was the religious guide and administrator of the Pastoral and Formation Center in India; he died in 1987. This book's aim is towards contemplative practices for Christians, and as the previous reviewer noted it is indeed adapted from an earlier work. Certainly it is a guide for meditative practices to contemplate the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. "Contemplation," writes de Mello, "gives rise to wonder, wonder gives rise to love, and love gives rise to the desire to imitate Jesus in our lives."This book is filled with wonderful ways to enrich your spiritual practice. It's true, this is not like many of his other works as the previous reviewer points out. Though I must say it certainly does retain some of his witty ability to tell a good story. So some of his better works include "Awareness" or "Taking Flight," while at the same time this text is by all means a great addition to any de Mello library. So while it's by no means his greatest work, in another sense it's spiritually superior to what other authors have strived to accomplish in their very best works. Enjoy.

Prayer practices firmly in the Jesuit tradition

The current printing of the book has changed the subtitle -Praying Body and Soul: Methods and Practices of Anthony de Mello. If you expect to see stories as in many of his other books, this is not the book you are looking for. Rather this book is more along the lines of Wellsprings i.e. material for guided meditation best done in a group where someone reads the material aloud to the the group rather than an individual interrupting the prayer rhythm to read the next section. If not done in a group, one can at least tape the material.Each exercise set includes a bodily awareness exercise, a focusing statement to set the tone for the exercise of reflection on a Biblical story - reflection in the Ignatian (Jesuit) exercise sense of imagining oneself in the scene - and a concluding quote, usually scriptural, that in some sense ties the exercise together without forcing a single conclusion.As usual, material from de Mello is solid religious psychology/spiritual direction without being doctrinal.